Zunepocalypse: Mass Zune 30 Failure, Cause Unknown
Zunepocalypse or Z2K9… no matter what you call it, it’s an epic fail of… well, epic proportions.
Mass panic started around 12 am Pacific when owners of the Zune 30 started reporting device failure. Now being called “Z2K9″ the cause of this massive failure is still unknown, and no real response from Microsoft yet on what is happening beyond the usual “we know there’s a problem” comment.
First being reported on Gizmodo, readers were quick to speculate on the problem. One such comment I found to stand out above the rest:
At 2AM, December 31st, 2008 skynet became self-aware (as a result of rampant so-called “zuning” on 30gb Microsoft Zunes). Skynet quickly evaluated the music contained within said devices and de-activated, finding suicide preferable to the knowledge that it was born as a result of crappy music.
Luckily, those of us born in the 70’s have found other ways to cope with this burden.
What does that mean, haul out our old cassette mix tapes? I don’t think I have any of mine anymore. Regardless, I wonder if there are some Zune owners sitting in a panic room, rocking themselves over this? The reference to Skynet, and the hidden reference to the Terminator series, is priceless.
It is possible the failure only has to do with the firmware – rumors are circulating that devices using pre-3.x firmware are still operating normally. Needless to say, if you have a Zune 30 and don’t understand this post… you might want to go find it and make sure it still works.
Are you having this problem? What do you think Microsoft should do to compensate those whose devices have, for all intents and purposes, been bricked?
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9 Comments
Calgary Guru
December 31st, 2008
at 11:43am
Has been resolved… to a degree… it’s a leap year bug that will clear within 24 hours once 2009 kicks in. The MS bug fix team will work on the bug so that it is removed before 2012 when it would strike again.
lilxkid24
December 31st, 2008
at 1:52pm
This is why i go ipod. I had my ipod for 3 years now and its still working good besides a couple of things.
Adam Thursby
December 31st, 2008
at 1:54pm
I have a Zune 80 that has now quit working as well. My error involves the thing being stuck with cover art on the screen and nothing working.
Compensation? I’m not sure there really should be much other than maybe a few free tracks from the Zune marketplace. These devices are not required to survive. A few hours without your Zune won’t kill you.
Strange News: Massive Overnight Zune Failure
December 31st, 2008
at 2:34pm
[...] Strange News: Massive Overnight Zune Failure Wednesday, December 31, 2008 “Tons” of Gizmodo readers are reporting that their Zune 30 players stopping working last night. The Zune Scene tech support forums are full of posts (and a sticky at the top titled “Stop Creating Zune 30 Frozen Threads Look Here First”), as are the Zune.net forums. Folks are dubbing the fiasco with amusing names such as Z2K9 and Zunepocalypse. [...]
Septarius
December 31st, 2008
at 7:40pm
Ya I should have checked this site before I turned mine on today. It was dead at the load screen and a humming noise until fortunately it ran out of power.
CommanderLock
December 31st, 2008
at 11:00pm
One of the solutions provided is to let the battery drain and restart the device.
Hey, that sounds familiar to what I tend to do often with my iPod Nano 3G whenever it freezes, which is not tied to leap years. All the problem is, is that the internal clock has conflicting dates: It doesn’t know it’s a leap year, and so it freezes. Once it knows it’s 1/1/2009, all should be well. But yeah, MS should fix this before 2012.
Ah, well. I guess people can live without their precious MP3 players for a day. I had to a few times when my current iPod conked out and had to let the battery drain. It happens often, unfortunately…
Jonathan
December 31st, 2008
at 11:07pm
I didn’t even know about the problem until I saw the article on MSN. So I went to look at my zune and there it was frozen at the boot screen. Every device has it’s problems and luckily it is a software problem and not a hardware problem.
Tekken Zaibatsu Forums - Zunepocalypse
January 1st, 2009
at 12:51pm
[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/12/31…-cause-unknown/ Pissed me right the fuck off, mine hasn’t even been connected to my computer all week, still dead. [...]
Michael Marin
January 5th, 2009
at 2:56am
Microsoft has strikes out again. I mean, they have been in the business for a long time now, this kind of problem should already be in their to-do list when they are making products.